Friday, July 13, 2012

Spidey Is So Misunderstood

There
was so much pissing and moaning when
Sony announced Spider-Man would be rebooted. But by end of the third film, he’d
married his sweetheart, beaten two generations of his greatest foes, and be
embraced by all of New York. People wanted to see where that story went? I understand the frustration. Despite the
emphasis placed on them by the comic-loving crowd, origin stories are typically
the least interesting, least thought-out, least fun of all the stories in any
heroes cannon. Oh, but when I heard this new story would hew closer to the
Ultimate story-line, I got terribly excited. I am of the opinion that Brian
Michael Bendis has an intimate friendship with Peter Parker and writes stories
about that young man effortlessly and neigh-perfectly. He doesn’t tell stories
so much as relates details of an actual life. Without question, of all the
different versions of Spider-Man, Ultimate (for me) is the best written, most fun,
most pleasurable of them all.

The
movie captures a good bit of that. The first act of the film, leading up to the
spider bite, isn’t all winks to the audience about what’s to come (Yay). Peter
Parker is completely redone and expertly so. Andrew Garfield played this Peter
so god damn well I instantly fell in love with him. After Parker’s death in the
Ultimate Comics, The Amazing Spider-Man
was like seeing my best buddy again. Garfield did this little hesitation with a
lot of his lines, kind of a “where to begin…” look that just fit. Bendis wrote
Peter with loads of inner dialogue. Just pages and pages of Peter Worries,
Obsessions, Errant Thoughts. To put it all in a movie one would have to pause
the film regularly just to have Garfield rush through it. Or. One could have a
excellent actor give a little pause and it’s all said with a look.

Every
review I’d read has mentioned the incredible chemistry between Garfield and
Emma Stone. Not how I saw it. I was so
tuned into facial expressions because of Garfield that I was really put off by
Stone’s constant ugly and angry faces. Girl just has bug eyes. I couldn’t get
past it. I want my boy to have a pretty girl.

I was
happy as a clam watching Peter go about his life. There’s enough meat (and
likeability with Garfield) in the human aspects to be an enjoyable movie, or at
least the preamble before the conflict. Then, once bitten, it’s like the film
spasms. None of the care of explanation is carried through the middle act. Peter
is throwing himself off buildings to test his new powers (he just walked to the
top? Does a smart guy conduct tests where failure is death?), the Lizard makes
a lab in a sparklingly clean sewer (even though he could still conduct the same
research in his nice office lab), Peter calls up Gwen to tell her the exact
name of the antidote to Lizardness… which hasn’t been brought up before and
Peter was only back in Oscorp for a brief visit... so I don’t know about that
one… The screen fades a bit, the darkness of the theater creeps in, and the
thought hits you “this is another bad Super Hero movie”.

Not
quite because Holy Shit Martin Sheen is the best father (ironic…). He’s ideal
but not a fantasy. Uncle Ben isn’t a caricature of Kindly Uncle, he’s what
every man aspires to be. No, it isn’t flashy and I couldn’t give you any
memorable quotes, but he’s so perfect the joy comes from just hanging out with
him. Of having every moment of life be infused with thoughtful character.

That’s
what this film is like. The big moments aren’t like The Avengers, little chunks of humor and fun that anyone could
excitedly tell a friend that hasn’t seen it and have them share the moment more
or less. “The Hulk fucking smashed the shit out of everyone and everyGod”. The
big moments in Amazing are the
emotional payoff that have been simmering from a beginning that doesn’t hurry. “Yo,
remember when that construction worker totally had Spidey’s back and called in
that favor!?”. It pulls together the rough public relations Spidey has, the
feeling of actually saving real people (something only Spidey seems capable of.
There was a scene in comics where Peter gets to see a beach full of all the
people he was ever saved. Nobody else can pull something like that off. The culminative
effort and effect of all Spider-Man has done hits you then), as well as
providing a satisfying action sequence (the Hero limping on!). That isn’t a
good promotional clip but when you’re in the theater it just feels right. It
feels really good. Having Peter start wearing his father’s glasses without
comment from anyone is another standout moment that doesn’t much standout in a
highlight reel, but hot damn if the loss of a father doesn’t slam right into
you. Fair warning: bite your tongue when Uncle Ben dies to stifle the cry.

The Amazing Spider-Man is going to get overlooked and
passed off as “meh” or “nothing special”. Which I get. The Lizard fits the
theme in theory as a villain but comes off as wildly inappropriate. What that
dismissal misses is the essence of Spider-Man. Despite the outlandish source of
power, Spidey has always felt the most real and honest of all Super Heroes. Decades
of comics later, he still has the feel of a guy dressing up in a borderline
silly costume and just winging it in real world conditions. Not only does Amazing respect that, it understands it.
The middle act is flakey, but the beginning and end (where it matters most) are
spot-on. I loved it.

1 comment:

The problem I had with this film was all of the backstory plot points. His mother and father die. His uncle dies. I get it. The ironically name Marc Webb does not need to hold my hand and tell me what three films have already done. By the time the new material arrives it has to leave, and I am left wanting more.

Casting aside the comic source material for a second. I would like to see a whole new mature version of spider-man be told on the big screen, a la batman. The first three films had a cutesy, corky feel to them. this is more of the same.

The only spider-man movie I want to see is one thats different. This movie did not need to be made. It filled in no holes in the already told story. Nor did it expanded on or more importantly tell and new one.